Four Emaar hotels earn Ctrip's 'Chinese Preferred Hotel' status

Four luxury properties under Emaar Hospitality Group were awarded the ‘Chinese Preferred Hotel’ certification from Chinese OTA Ctrip in recognition of extensive guest service offerings for Chinese travellers to Dubai.

The four properties awarded with ‘Chinese Preferred Hotel' certification are: Address Boulevard, Address Dubai Mall, Address Dubai Marina and Palace Downtown. Strict criteria had to be met by these hotels to receive the accolade, covering factors such as Mandarin-speaking hotel staff, Chinese sign instructions, Chinese fact sheets on hand, Chinese-convenient payment systems such as Union Pay, Alipay or WeChat, guest reviews with a 3.8 rating and above, free Wi-Fi in each room and Chinese breakfast items.

Properties that receive ‘Chinese Preferred Hotel certification’ are entitled to key benefits: marketing about the hotel’s Chinese-friendly services, a special badge attached to the hotel to highlight its Chinese-friendly services and priority participation in Ctrip marketing campaigns.

Emaar Hospitality Group CEO Olivier Harnisch said: “China has been one of our core markets, with our hotels increasingly serving as destinations of choice for Chinese travellers. Each of our properties focuses on integrating features that make the Chinese visitors feel at home, and this is reflected in the Ctrip recognition. Our hotels appeal to them for their location, the amenities we offer, and the personalised service, complete with Mandarin-speaking guest service professionals. The Ctrip recognition will further drive Chinese visitor traffic to our hotels, complementing the initiatives of the authorities to welcome more Chinese travellers and entrepreneurs to Dubai.”

Ctrip was founded in Shanghai in 1999 and is China’s nnumber one travel website and Online Travel Aggregator (OTA) as well as a popular offline travel agency with 17 branches and 30,000 employees. China is a significant source market for Dubai, having welcomed 520,000 visitors in 2016, up by 22% over 2015, and set to record a growth of 300% by 2018.